The basketball team that a week ago led UNLV in Las Vegas inside two minutes to go, that was threatening to crack the Top 10 of the national rankings, that had bracketologists calling it a “lock” for the NCAA Tournament, that was angling for a high seed and a geographically favorable venue, has suddenly lost two players and three straight games. And perhaps, a tiny bit of hope.

The latest: A 58-56 decision Saturday afternoon at Clune Arena to an Air Force team that fired its coach two weeks ago and entered the day 0-64 all-time against Top 20 opposition.

The Aztecs (20-6, 6-4) are technically still ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll for another day, but that is in jeopardy after also losing at home to New Mexico earlier in the week and UNLV the previous Saturday — their first three-loss skid in four seasons and 143 games.

And anyway, they have bigger concerns: Like fielding enough scholarship players to be competitive.

They started the game with eight after Jamaal Franklin, SDSU’s leading scorer and rebounder, tested his sprained ankle in warm-ups and couldn’t go. Midway through the second half, the guy who started for Franklin, Garrett Green, landed on someone’s foot and was gone too with (yes) a sprained ankle. Franklin sat on the bench with ice encasing his left ankle; Green was behind the bench with an ice bag on his right.

That left coach Steve Fisher with seven scholarship players, one of which, forward Alec Williams, had played only 24 total minutes during the conference season and not at all in the past three games.

It was even uglier on the floor.

This ugly: SDSU had won 43 straight games when holding its opponent to 60 points or less, and 34 straight when its opponent failed to shoot over 40 percent. And Air Force finished with 58 points on 34.8-percent shooting.

And won.

The Aztecs also had a 47-27 edge on the boards and a 16-0 advantage on second-chance points and took six more shots. But they had 16 turnovers, a big number in a low-possession game, and shot 34.6 percent themselves, connecting on just 3 of 16 attempts behind the three-point arc.

They made their first shot of the second half, then missed 13 in a row and went 11½ minutes without a basket. They went 18½ minutes without making a perimeter shot, from 4:12 left in the first half to 5:40 left in the game between jumpers by Chase Tapley (17 points, nine rebounds).

“It’s hard to win anywhere, especially on the road,” Fisher said before boarding a bus to the airport and an evening flight home. “And it is especially hard when you shoot it as poorly as we did. I’m sure Air Force had a lot to do with it, but we had all sorts of looks. You’ve got to be able to find a way to make them. You’ve got to find a way to make a basket.

“When we made stops, we couldn’t make baskets. And when it remains close, lots of things can happen, and did.”

This was a 48-48 game with four minutes left. Then Michael Lyons, who had four points on 1-of-11 shooting in the first meeting last month, made back-to-back contested threes en route to 27 points. The Aztecs turned it over, and freshman Max Yon made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 56-48 with 2:28 left.

SDSU extended its defense and got within 57-56 before sending Todd Fletcher to the line with 8.2 seconds left. Fletcher, a perfect 11 of 11 on the season, made the first and missed the second.

But Thames, the Aztecs’ go-to player in these situations, didn’t get the ball until too late and reasoned there wasn’t enough time to drive into the lane. Instead he launched an off-balance three from 25 feet that never had a chance, failing to even hit the rim as the buzzer sounded and a hundred or so Air Force fans rushed the court.

And why not?

The Falcons (13-1, 3-7) fired Jeff Reynolds following a 39-point home loss to New Mexico and replaced him with assistant Dave Pilipovich. They were 1-74 all-time against teams in the Top 25, the “one” being against No. 21 UTEP in 1992. They had lost all 64 games against teams in the Top 20.

“This is something that doesn’t happen that often here and it should be celebrated,” said junior center Taylor Broekhuis, whose team had lost eight straight to SDSU. “Before the game Coach P had the score of the game from 1992 and he told us today was the day we make history.”

The Aztecs, meanwhile, limped to the bus thankful the next two games are at Viejas Arena — Wednesday against Wyoming, Saturday against Colorado State — but wondering who might play in them. Sometimes sprained ankles can heal in a matter of days; sometimes it takes weeks.

A bigger question may be their psyche, their resolve.

“We have to make sure we remain determined and believe in ourselves,” said Fisher, whose team has lost four of six. “You lose a game, and then you lose another game and you start to wonder, and then you lose another one that you were expected to win. The only way to get the hook out of your mouth and spit it out is to work up a sweat in practice, to work, work, work and get better.

“But our players should know there are no free lunches. Nothing is given.”

Notes

Clune Arena was about half full, with an announced attendance of 2,483 … Tim Shelton continued his recent offensive productivity, scoring a season-high 13 points for the second straight game to go with 11 rebounds … Shelton and Tapley were a combined 11 of 22. Everyone else was 7 of 30 (23.3 percent) … The Aztecs are shooting 20 percent on threes (6 of 30) in their last two games … Air Force made 1 of 18 threes in the Jan. 21 game against the Aztecs. Saturday, they were 8 of 26 …

Air Force hosted a hockey game a few hours later in the adjacent ice rink. Said Falcons assistant coach Steve Snell on the cold shooting from both teams: “The hockey game started early. No one could score.” … Broekhuis, who had 16 points and seven rebounds in the first meeting, wore a clear mask to protect what is believed to be a broken nose sustained in practice Thursday. He got hit on the opening possession and left the game, returning late in the first half and finishing with three points and four rebounds.